Petals
by Flying-Over-A-Great-Bay
Summary: Rose Quartz was a touchy subject among the crystal gems, but what if there's a little bit of her still left in Steven? Steven slowly discovers her mother's past, realizing that... she may not be gone, after all.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys, new author here. I have worked on different stories under different accounts, but I think this is the one I'm staying with this one. This story was inspired off the new episode, and some theories I had. So, I hope you enjoy. Please leave me suggestions and improvements, thanks!**

Rose Quartz was a touchy subject among the crystal gems.

"A leader."

"I loved her."

"She taught me."

"My mother."

Steven wondered after returning to the temple, lying in his bed thinking about the words Jasper had said. Pink Diamond? His mother's diamond? Steven was puzzled. He sat up, looking into the sky, Homeworld was up there, somewhere. He pictured the memory earlier, speaking to the gems about the words Jasper had said. Garnet's eyes weren't visible through her shades, but Pearl's eyes went wide.

 _Flashback_

"Peal, what happened?" Asked Steven, puzzled.

"Uh, Steven, it might be better to keep that a secret for now. In time, you'll understand." Pearl responded playing with her ribbon, not making eye contact.

 _End flashback_

Steven laid his head on the pillow once more, feeling his gem. The curiosity for his mother was an aching itch, and it had just become more intense. He sighed, closing his eyes.

 _In the dream_

He was in the sky arena sitting on the front row. He looked around and realized something was wrong. The sky arena was unbroken, the statues and marble floor neat in contrast to the broken arena he had come to know.

"Hello?" He called out, expecting a voice responding. His voice got lost in the clouds as he sat back down, attempting to control his dream. He couldn't.

It was strange, he could always take control of his own dreams.

Suddenly, two figures transported into the portal, two tall gems. Quartz gems. He gasped as he noticed who they were.

Jasper had a hard look on her face, his mother wearing a smile on her face like always.

"Alright Rose, I've improved, I can assure you that." Jasper said with enthusiasm while talking to her as if she was her friend. Rose smirked playfully, jumping and landing on one side of the arena with her shield spawning. However, Steven noticed something was missing from the shield. The gem on the center was missing, but the tangled vines were still present.

Jasper smiled with a hunger for a fight in her eyes. She ran at Rose, ramming her weapon into Rose's shield.

"I think I pushed you back a little bit." Jasper said, laughing.

"You've gotten better, Jasper." Rose responded, still with that smile. She pushed her shield onto Jasper, kicking at her chest after. Jasper went flying backwards landing by the Pink Diamond's statue. Jasper got up, it was notable she was having fun.

Steven was not used to this. They were not actually fighting. It looked as if they were playing, sparring. Jasper rolled into her spikeball form, rising up before diving down straight for Rose. Rose quickly stepped to the right, quickly summoning her shield again to use her own strength to slam her into the ground.

An explosion of dust filled the arena as the noise ceased. Steven took a second look, Rose had the tip of the shield on Jasper's gem, it had been an easy fight. She lent a hand to the orange gem, helping her get up. Rose poofed her shield and smiled brightly. Jasper got up, chuckling.

 _End of the dream_

Steven woke up, the same dark sky outside.

"Man, what a strange dream. Steven thought, laying his head back on the pillow. A sudden thought came to him, as he realized. Jasper had once stated that she respected Rose, looked up to her.

"Wait a moment. If they were sparring, that'd mean…It's a memory?" Steven thought, the dream gaining a lot of importance all of a sudden. Was his mother still inside her? Was that an actual memory? Was Rose on Jasper's side? The questions kept going through his mind, until he spotted Pearl sitting on the floor next to his bed, trying to slowly get up and leave.

"Pearl?" Steven asked, as she turned around.

"Are you still watching me sleep….?" He asked.

"Well, y'know, I just wanted to check you were safe, ha-ha…" She responded, shrugging awkwardly. Her cheeks turned into a darker shade of blue, as she quickly climbed down the stairs.

"Pearl?" Steven asked again, recalling the dream…or memory.

"Do you know if…. never mind. Good night." He said, looking at Pearl smile at her, glad that it wasn't anything on Rose.

Steven laid back again, thinking about the dream again and again. He sighed, closing his eyes.

He slept a dreamless sleep, his gem glowing softly as he slept.

 **Well, end of first chapter. There's a lot coming up, so keep up with the updates!**

 **Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed.**

 **Bye!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello again, author here again. Sorry for the delay on this segment, these projects are truly overwhelming. Anyways, thanks for the reviews, it's great to see that people are taking their time to read this. And again, I hope you enjoy this segment of** _ **Petals,**_ **a Steven Universe story.**

Steven woke up feeling tired, his eyelids heavy. He almost went back to sleep, but something stopped him.

He hard Pearl and Amethyst speaking downstairs. He was careful to not make any creaking noises, carefully looking over the floor, seeing the gems sit by the counter. Pearl had her legs crossed, hands on her lap. Amethyst sat on the counter swinging her legs.

"He heard everything, didn't he?" Pearl asked worriedly. Amethyst nodded, looking up at Steven's bed.

"…It's been so long…" Was all the white gem could say as she rubbed her arms recalling the memories of what Rose had done.

Amethyst had heard part of the story from Garnet, stories from how the war had started.

Rose Quartz had been the prized possession of Homeworld, its best general. Even the Diamonds had learned to fear her abilities. Amethyst herself had never witnessed her true extents, but she knew enough not to mess with her.

Pearl put her hands together and nodded to herself, getting up.

"Thank you, Amethyst." Amethyst nodded.

Pearl walked back to the door, her room opening. She sat down against the door as soon as it closed, looking up into the roof of the cavern with teary eyes.

She had done fine, keeping the memories of Rose with herself. She felt herself break, her gem projecting an image onto the ceiling.

 _Flashback to Homeworld_

It was back in Homeworld. White Diamond was projecting an image around her, stars and constellations revealed ordered in a systematic manner. Pearl was below her wearing her space suit. She marveled at the infinite depth of the universe revealed before her. White Diamond swung her hand, the earth coming to focus. The beautiful green planet was unlike anything.

"My diamond." A gem called out from behind White Diamond's throne, bowing.

"Yellow Diamond is calling for you. Private matters." The gem smiled and kept herself low.

Wordless, the bigger diamond disappeared in a flash of light.

Pearl was left alone in the dark room, an empty husk without the orb. She sat against the wall and projected the earth on her gem, although she was strictly told not to use any of her abilities while being inside a diamond's quarters.

Mesmerized by the beauty, she didn't notice a gem sneaking up behind her.

"You know; you shouldn't be doing that." Pearl shrieked, scooting away.

A large gem stood by her, long curls of pink hair falling down to the bottom of her white dress, a star on her stomach showing her gem. She gulped, it was a quartz.

"Please, don't tell anyone…" Was all Pearl could say as the warrior laughed, putting a hand on Pearl's shoulder.

"Go on, do it again." The quartz encouraged her, leaving the smaller gem confused.

She hesitantly projected the image of the earth onto the wall, the beautiful landscapes and clouds slowly drifting by the sky. The quartz pointed at one hemisphere of the earth, but Pearl could not envision it, she had never been there.

"Somewhere in there is a beach. Beautiful shores, the calming noise of water sliding back and forth. A mountain as high as our buildings, grass stretching out miles upon miles of land, with no end. The seagulls soar around, the sun is always radiant, strong. No fancy tech, no fighting, just…peace."

Pearl stood wide eyed, not knowing what any of it meant. Peace had a meaning in gem language, but it was rarely used.

"…What is a shore?" Pearl asked, puzzled. The bigger gem laughed giving a hand to Pearl, helping them get up.

"Rose Quartz." She said, displaying a wide smile.

"P-Pearl…"

"I'll teach you about the earth, Pearl." She responded to her shy tone, an encouraging look on her face.

 _Back to reality_

Pearl teared up at the memory, crying softly with her tears joining the long streams of water flowing down the pillars, the subject of her cherished memories were now…

Gone.

 **Hey everyone,**

 **Sorry for not uploading in such a long time, the school coming at me with project after project is not helping with these uploads :P**

 **I'll try to make the next chapter longer, so I can make up for the time I haven't uploaded. Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter,**

 **Thanks!**


End file.
